September 26, 2012

On August 30, I won the "Idea Award" at the Mushroom Recipe Contest, conducted by the Uonuma Kinoko and Sansai Promotion Association, as described here (Japanese only).

８月30日、魚沼きのこ・山菜振興協議会開催の「きのこレシピコンテスト」でアイディア賞を受賞しました。

I have been reluctant to post about this recipe, because it is not so good by any standard, but I guess I might as well post about it. So, here is.

どう見てもあまりいいレシピではないので、紹介するのを躊躇していましたが、別に紹介してもいいのではないかと思い、紹介します。

Recipe title: Hot cakes containing enoki

Ingredients for 4 servings:

300 g hot cake mix

2 M size eggs

150 ml milk

100 ml easily made enoki goori. See below.

Directions: Making easily made enoki goori

1. Finely chop 3 packs (200 g x 3 = 600 g) enoki.

2. Put in an I-Wrap bag and heat in a microwave for 4-5 min.

3. Put in a blender, add 450 ml water, and process in the blender.

This way, you can make about 1 kg easily made enoki goori.

Put it in an ice tray, and freeze.

Making hot cakes

1. In a mixing bowl, put 2 M eggs and 150 ml water, and mix well.

2. Add hot cake mix and easily made enoki goori, and mix well.

3. Pour 1/4 (about 1.5 ladlefuls) of the mix in a non-stick frying pan with a diameter of 18 cm.

4. Put on the lid, and cook for about 3 min. over very low heat.

5. Flip over, and cook for about 2 min.

Done!

Cooking time: 20 min. (40 min. if you start by making enoki goori).

Comments: I've wanted to make sweets using mushrooms. Cake with mushrooms in it, milk shake, ice cream, etc., etc. When I talked about them to my children, however, their reaction was not so encouraging. I don't think they will taste bad...

To minimize the risk, I decided to put mushroom in hot cakes first.

I have previously made hot cakes with soy pulp in them, and they went very well, so I was confident this time. Just as I had expected, I succeeded in making tasty hot cakes, with the presence of enoki being hardly noticeable.

I would like to incorporate mushrooms into other sweets, too, in the future!

Postscript: I recently learned that the correct pronounciation of "えのき氷" is enoki goori. I had assumed that it was called enoki koori. It seems that its recognition has increased more recently, and I hear that enoki goori is sold at local large supermarkets here.

That being said, it's a little too much to buy it, and it's troublesome to make it yourself (you have to simmer for 1 hour while stirring!). So, I think that it will be the easiest way to either pan-fry or heat in a microwave and then process in a blender. The resultant enoki goori may not have the same effect as authentic enoki goori, but I think it is the same in that you can consume a large amount of enoki.

I thought that looking at all the exhibits carefully would take the whole afternoon, so I decided to enter the shop.

展示品をすべて注意深く見ていると、午後いっぱいかかると思ったので、店の中に入ることにしました。

I immediately realized that this was an real paradise for chefs!

ここは料理人の天国だとすぐに分かりました！

One of the most expensive aluminum frying pans:

値段が最も高いフライパンの１つ：

Iwasaki Shigeyoshi:

岩崎重義：

Iizuka Tokifusa:

飯塚解房：

Edited to add on Oct. 3:

NOTE: Iizuka-san's real name is spelled 飯塚時房. I've been told that 飯塚解房 is more like a "pen name".

10月３日追記：

注： 飯塚さんの本名は「飯塚時房」です。「飯塚解房」は「ペンネーム」のようなものだそうです。

Blacksmith who makes Shigefusa knives.

重房の包丁を作っている鍛冶職人です。

You can buy any of his knives here,

ここなら重房の包丁は、いつでも買えます。

if you have the money.

お金があれば。

Other knives:

他の包丁：

I wish I could post all the photos I took of the shop.

できれば、店で撮った写真をすべて載せたいです。

Universal Design Section:

ユニバーサルデザインコーナー：

Edited to add on Sep. 24:

The information below is incorrect. I have just learned from Messepia that Iizuka-san won't come to this event on October 14 but that only one of them (for example, Hosokawa-san on Oct. 14) will come to sharpen your knives. I have also learned that Iizuka-san will come to this event in December or January next year.